Peep-a-Boo

If you know me at all you are probably laughing at the title because you know I can't spell worth a flip. Only the joke is on you because the title is spelled correctly (at least in my world). Let me explain. Ted loves Peeps. It is one of the only foods he is truly passionate about, unlike me who is passionate about all food. Anyway, a several months back Ted came home one day as chipper as could be because he had found the first Easter peeps of the season (which as you know starts the day after Valentines). Seeing his bright smile, I decided to make him a Peeps basket for Easter.  I spent weeks looking for all things Peeps. As I searched online for possible boy Peeps items, I found out that Peeps make many products, but they don't sell them at the same places. For instance, they make peep baskets that are only sold at Meijers or pleather peep pens only at Walgreen's. With this in mind, I kept my eyes peeled on our spring break road trip for special peep items. When I would find said items I would sneak around and buy them without Ted's knowledge.. then hide them in the car. Well somewhere between West Virginia and Pennsylvania we stopped at a store that had Peeps clay. It was like art meets Peeps right there in front of me. I picked them up and tried to scurry up to the checkout counter before he saw me. No luck, when I was almost there he caught me. Thinking quick on my feet I said "Look at this. Don't you think Superman and Ladybug would like these?" Quick side note: Superman and Ladybug are the children of Ted's teenagehood best friends who we were on our way to see at the time. Anyway, so with Ted totally believing my cover story we purchased the Peeps dough. On the way to the car, Ted ran into someone he knew who he began talking too. So I used the opportunity to hide the Peeps where he would never find them. Now, if you know me well or for that matter only met me one you will know that I pretty much have no short term memory. Yea, the light bulb is going off...you guessed it... I totally forgot about the Peeps clay until I found them TODAY in the pocket my school bag.  As I booed over the fact that I left out the Peeps, I decided the moment was too priceless not to share.  OK, so maybe I cackled... opposed to booing but Peep- a -Cackle wouldn't make any sense.

A LESSON

I believe God wires us each unique...He has designed us for a purpose & a calling.  Mine is not to work with middle schoolers!!!  This week at Art-al-Sol(the summer art camp put on by MNPS), we have the joy of working with 22 middle school students(and I do mean that..it is a joy!).  Now these kids are smart, talented, funny, and good natured..usually.  However, sometimes this age group leads me to think that everyone has multiple personality disorder...but most outgrow it toward the end of their teen years.  I don't have any scientific proof, but if you spend much time with middle school kids...you might agree with me!  One minute they are wonderful...respectful...and ready to learn.  THEN SOMETHING SNAPS!  Your once sweet student starts sassing back & questing everything you say!  WHO ARE YOU???  Two days of sweet wonderful art work...cooperation...and intellectual conversation.  Now I have some ranting & raving person that is telling me that it is her artistic interpretation not to follow my directions.   After a moment of trying to reason with her...I stood up...looked her in the eye & said..."I'm not going to argue with you...arguing does not equal intelligence..and sometimes it takes a greater mind to work within the rules than to try to get your own way." 

I walked away from her, and allowed her to process what just happened.  Ya know what...it worked?!?!?!  What I said made sense to her.   She came up to me later to ask a question...a bit unsure of how I'd receive her.  I greeted her question as I would anyone..spoke to her with kindness & respect.  I could see the tension leave her when she realized that things were good between us.  I had my sweet student back!!  UNTIL TOMORROW?!?!?!?!?! ha ha ha  

I really have enjoyed working with this age group.  It is a neat change of pace from my K-4 students I work with during the school year.  However, I know that God has given me much love & grace for my little ones.  I am wired to handle the day ins & day outs  of the elementary age student.  Middle schoolers are fun in small doses, but I know that there are those out there that God has wired with much love & grace...AND AN EXTRA HUGE HELPING OF PATIENCE for the middle school age students.  God bless 'em!!  

Must Eats: In-n-Out

Words can not even big to express my love for In-n-Out. If you don’t know what In-n-Out is then you should hop a plane ASAP for California because you are missing out on one of life’s finest moments. Let me elaborate...first you need to know one very important fact about me. I do not eat fast food. I think that fast food is a sorry excuse for a meal. If you ever see a fast food restaurant on this site, then call the police because I have surely been kidnapped and something terrible tragic is going to happen to me like being force fed greasy fries and overcooked grade F meat…or my husband is trying to be funny and sneak a blog onto my food site. Anyway, moving on…now that you get that I do not eat fast food under any circumstance you need to know about my one exception…In-n-Out Burger…My mouth waters at the words as I think about their out of this world unbelievably delectable burgers. At first glance, they just look like any ordinary burger. But on closer examination you can’t help but to fall in love if you know the secret. See here’s the deal. In-n-Out has a very simple menu literally burger, fries, milkshake or at least it seems that way. They have a secret not really so secret menu. It’s not posted in the restaurant you have to just know about it (or look it up http://www.in-n-out.com/). Here is a simple test…next time you meet someone who has been to Cali ask them if they have been to In-n-Out. If they answer yes in a balsa kind of way then they are boring and do not know of the secret menu. But if they answer with overwhelming enthusiasm then they are totally in. (the one exception would be my husband who’s taste buds have been deadened by years of fast food…yuck…JUST SAY NO TO FAST FOOD EXCEPT IN-N-OUT) Anyway, back to the secret menu…the most popular item on the secret menu is an animal style burger. Animal style means they coat your burger in mustard before cooking then top it with sautéed onions and a secret sauce (basically thousand island dressing with a kick) placing it on a toasted bun before serving it. Trust me try it even if you don’t like any of those ingredients you can’t help but to fall in love with the piece of heaven they serve you. This week I was in California visiting my best friend, Liz, who first introduced me to In-n-Out. We ate there everyday for lunch. It was the happiest my mouth has been in quite some time. So go and try it for yourself and you will see…YOU WILL LOVE IT!

...what's goin' on...

Greeting all you who read this thing!!  We do appreciate your reading, comments, time..etc.  Well, Shana is in CA for a handful of days & I am busy teaching at Art al Sol(summer art camp put on by MNPS).  So....we've been busy & are sorry we've not been faithful to post.  We are truly more interesting than it may appear(ha ha).  Shana went out to see Liz...one of her best friends that she talked about(and there are pictures) in a previous post.  It truly is a good time to go...I'm teaching all day on the west side of town & then go to the church after to work on VBS decorations.  Then Friday night I'm suppose to be teaching at Jo-Ann's...and then Sat. morning I'm teaching at Jo-Ann's.  IS THIS SUMMER BREAK?!?!?!?!   HA HA!!!  Anyways...hopefully things will slow down a bit in the next couple weeks.  

SICK & WRONG! blog by Ted

I am not a man that gets sick often, and if I do...I push through it.  Monday morning I woke up early with a strange cough & feelin' a bit sickly.  As the day went on my temperature climbed.  By evening, I was feeling TERRIBLE.   I drove myself to Quick Care(which is neither quick nor caring)...to find I had a pretty bad case of strep throat.  So...off I went to get my meds & then home.  I had high hopes, though, because I caught it early that it would be over in no time.  WRONG!  For three days my temp went up and down...but staying around 100 most of the time.  I hurt all over.  I didn't want to eat.  I just felt cruddy.  And then...MY YARD MOCKED ME!  It's been so hot lately & we've had little rain.  Yet as I looked out my window...seeing all the shiney happy healthy people enjoying being out & about in the summer time bliss....my parched lawn had amazing patches of green....WEEDS.  SICK & WRONG!!!!!  How is it that my few blades of actual grass have given up the ghost, but the weeds seem to be stronger than ever?!?!?!?!  Anyways...I digress.  I woke up this morning feeling hungry(good sign), the spots were gone on the back of my throat, and I no longer cared about the weeds mocking me.  However...my head hurt(hmm...Shana may have socked me a good one to stop snoring??).  With the symptoms of strep gone...I realized my ears were hurting...feeling as if the tubes were full of somethin' somethin'.  So...probably...all of this is linked to a sinus infection that stopped everything up...and is still causin' issue.  The strep....was just a bonus.  I wonder if the magical meds they gave me will take care of everything...known & unknown(including killing the weeds in my yard!!!)...hmmm.   SICK AND WRONG.  

Cupcakes

One of my favorite places in Portland was Saint Cupcake. The cupcake shop makes the most delicious cupcakes in all sorts of interesting flavors. We sampled toasted coconut cream, lemon berry, vanilla with vanilla butter cream, and the fat Elvis. My favorite ended up being the toasted coconut cream. It was perfect just the way it was...buttery vanilla cake with cream cheese icing covered in toasted coconut. Now, the fat Elvis really enticed me. This cupcake consisted of a semi-sweet banana chocolate chip cake with a peanut butter chocolate icing topped off with a banana chip. With all of that you would think that it has to be pretty close to perfect. While it was delicious, I found myself thinking of all the things that I would do to make it better. Throughout the week I kept day dreaming of fun combinations of cupcakes that I could make.

Once we returned, I decided that I was going to create my own banana chocolate chip cupcake. So I googled cupcakes finding a plathera of cupcake blogs. Apparently, I am not the only cupcake crazy person out there! One of my favorite sites is Cupcake Project. The cupcake project was started by a lady who was making cupcakes for her friends' wedding. In preparation, she worked to master the art of cupcakes by creating a new tempting treat every week. Along the way she blogged about the things she discovered, the recipes she created, and the feed back from her friends. The project began as a nine month adventure... (You must read this!)http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/01/sweet-success.html, but continues today as a passion for creating delicious treats. Her site is full of great ideas if your in the mood for cupcakes.

After searching blogs and recipe sites, I had million ideas floating around in my head. So I decided to start my own mini summer cupcake project. This weekend I created my first cupcake "Good Morning" which is a close cousin to the fat Elvis. Good Morning consist of a sweet moist banana-nut cake with chocolate chucks covered in a chocolate fudge icing. I topped my cupcake with a banana chip in honor of my original inspiration Saint Cupcake. If I do say so myself, they are pretty fabulous. I have several ideas in mind for June inspired by Ben & Jerry's and fresh fruit??? I bet your mind is turning....if you have any inpiring flavor combinations let me know and perhaps I'll turn your cupcake dreams into a mouth watering reality!

Imago Dei - blog by Ted

If you know me...you know I love books!  Over the past few years, I've enjoyed reading the works of Donald Miller! Blue Like Jazz, Through Painted Deserts, Searching for God Knows What, and To Own A Dragon are all amazing reads..and if you are searching for a fresh voice with fresh thoughts...check him out! 

http://www.donaldmillerwords.com/

Why do I bring this up in light of our Portland trip??? Well, through his books I learned about an interesting fellowship of believers in Portland called Imago Dei. It just so happened that our friend Josh(who we were visiting) goes to Imago!!! HOW EXCITING! Not as exciting as reading the bible and getting to visit many of the 7 churches of Revelation(if ya don't know about my time in Turkey...lets grab some coffee/tea), but still...exciting. It was what I imagined, but much larger!!

The day we went...the pastor was talking about who they were as a church, their leaders, their ministry...etc.   The church mission statement is :  TAKING THE WHOLE GOSPEL, TO THE WHOLE PERSON, TO THE WHOLE WORLD, & EQUIPPING PEOPLE TO BECOME MATURE IN CHRIST.  Don't ya love that!!!!   They played mostly hymns(amazing band), had a beautiful time for the Lord's Supper, and had a great area set up to explain their ministries(some super cool art ministries!!!).  The church is in a high school, but the set up seems to work! We loved the Imago experience, and are so glad that was part of our trip to Portland!!  Check out the church web site....I'm sure you'll be amazed at what the Lord is doing there!!!!  

http://www.imagodeicommunity.com/